WIRE WATCH: Obama Goes Back to College, Reflections on the Financial Crisis, FCC ‘Czar’ in Spotlight

Fear the Turtle: President Barack Obama will hold a health care rally in College Park at the University of Maryland today. The trip comes on the heels of recent presidential trips to Minnesota and Ohio to tout the overhaul. The Washington Post notes that Obama’s audience will likely be filled with his most ardent supporters—those under 30—who also happen make up a significant number of the nation’s uninsured. The Republican National Committee is having former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich give the party’s “pre-buttal” to Obama’s rally on a conference call with reporters this morning. Ehrlich, who lost in 2006 to Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, is rumored to be mulling a 2010 rematch.

Associated Press

The Financial Crisis, in Hindsight: Those wondering what really caused the financial collapse of 2008 can start with a hearing today of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The 10-member bipartisan commission was created earlier this year to “to examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States.” Some are likening it to the 9-11 Commission and hoping that the panel will finally unearth the real story about how the global economy was brought to its knees. Former Democratic California Treasurer Phil Angelides and former California GOP Rep. Bill Thomas serve as chairman and vice-chairman.

Tune In: The five FCC commissioners, including Chairman Julius Genachowski, will testify at an oversight hearing today before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The FCC has been tagged in the “Czar Wars” after Genachowski tapped civil rights attorney Mark Lloyd to help the agency’s efforts to promote diversity in media ownership. (For more on Lloyd, read this WSJ story.) As such, Lloyd has been the target of criticism from conservatives in the media including Rush Limbaugh and Fox’s Glenn Beck. Lloyd also has supporters on the left. On Wednesday, more than 50 groups signed a letter to Genachowski and congressional leaders voicing support for his new role. “As the leading media policymakers in Washington, we ask you to speak out against these unfounded attacks, stand publicly behind Mr. Lloyd, and make clear your commitment to carrying out the core mandate of the FCC — as enshrined in the Communications Act of 1934 — to promote localism, diversity and competition in the media,” the groups wrote, including the Center for American Progress, the National Organization for Women, and Campaign for America’s Future.

So Goes Vermont: GOP Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont will give an address in Washington, D.C., today on the states’ role in a national health care overhaul. Douglas announced in late August that he would not seek re-election next year but he’s remained active in the health care debate. He was at the White House Wednesday, joining Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in announcing a new Medicare pilot program, modeled after one in Vermont, that is intended to improve primary-care services and lower emergency care costs.

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